Snow Poetry

[Black Bart]

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -- Robert Frost, 1874-1963.

[snowbird]

Snowbirds


palm trees sway beneath skies of blue
Gulf winds blow the sail boats too.
The many pleasures just in reach
like restaurants, shopping and the beach.
Winter sun still warms the sand
where people flock to get a tan.
The water temp is now too cold,
who venture in are mighty bold.
The snowbirds now they dive right in
and tell us that our blood's too thin.
The natives here will disagree.
It's winter now don't' they believe.
So many things for them to see
like Egrets, Pelicans and Manatee,
Dolphins playing in the Gulf,
Beautiful parks, and nature walks.
Welcome back to snowbird friends.
Your time comes swiftly to an end.
Come shell and fish, the pier is grand.
Enjoy our paradise vacation land.

Helen Miles

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/snowbirds/

On our way for the tax season!

[Grumpy]

Picked this off another Tax Board some years ago. Don't know the originator.


THE GATHERING OF THE CLAN


'Tis time once more to practice, this profession we have chosen
It matters not the days are short, nor that our town lies frozen
Send forth the word to gather now, to colleagues we hold dear
Once more their skills are needed, our new season's almost here

Of what season do I speak you ask, in midst of winter's gloom
If such question you must ask, for you there is no room
For of our clan you cannot be, a clan whose work resumes
At the dawn of each new year, while winter's worst still looms

And when our clan's re-gathered, and friendship's light re-lit
We'll sharpen up our pencils, and hopefully our wit
Each season is a challenge, which with knowledge we must meet
Knowledge gained from learning, through summer's humid heat

While others played at summer games, we pondered over rules
Which guide us in our labors, they truly are our tools
We use them in our client's behalf, we of our close-knit clan
For they are known to us, as to few others in our land

You see my friend this work we do, we of this learned few
Is help you to Caesar render, only his just due
Not one penny more we say, nor a penny less
Shall Caesar claim from you, when we the rules address

Some of us have names, which are suffixed by letters
Attesting skills from others learned, others once our betters
But those who have no letters, are not respected less
So long as they have skills, and use the knowledge they possess

To further clients' interests, and not play envy games
For none were born with letters, but only honest names
As we learn this craft of ours, we progress thru the ranks
Unlettered may someday lettered be, for that let us give thanks

So gather now dear colleagues all, to start this season new
For just as farmers harvest crops, we must harvest too
And if it's true we can only reap, that which we have sown
Let's hope that we have studied well, in time so quickly flown

Since last year's season ended, in the Springtime of the year
Once more let's sally forth, secure and without fear
Knowing we have done our best, to master this trade we ply
Harvest well my friends, for the time will quickly fly

[ChEAr$]

memories

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

(middle snipped)_

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening -- Robert Frost, 1874-1963.

I never read this one without remembering my first computer, a Radio Shack Model I,
and a program which animated that poem on a screen filling up with snow.

But all we get round here is lousy rain this year.

[Black Bart]

Hey!

remembering my first computer, a Radio Shack Model I,
and a program which animated that poem on a screen filling up with snow.

I had a Radio Shack too (Model TRS80). It was 1980 and I remember that very same thing (Frost's poem and snowflakes accumulating on the screen). A neat little machine, but those were the pioneer days of desktop computers and the hardware just wasn't up to snuff. I wrote a program in BASIC/DOS on it for the income averaging form being used in those days which would have been really handy except it would overheat and go haywire if kept on over half a day. Too, the peripheral storage (an ordinary tape recorder) wasn't much to speak of -- sometimes it stored your program entries correctly and sometimes it didn't.

While writing a lengthy program for my grain elevator employer's settlement sheets, I saw something which I had never seen before and which I never expect to see again -- the computer's total memory was 4K and this message popped up on my screen: "END OF MEMORY."

[Larmil]

I had a Radio Shack too (Model TRS80). It was 1980 and I remember that very same thing (Frost's poem and snowflakes accumulating on the screen). A neat little machine, but those were the pioneer days of desktop computers and the hardware just wasn't up to snuff. I wrote a program in BASIC/DOS on it for the income averaging form being used in those days which would have been really handy except it would overheat and go haywire if kept on over half a day. Too, the peripheral storage (an ordinary tape recorder) wasn't much to speak of -- sometimes it stored your program entries correctly and sometimes it didn't.

While writing a lengthy program for my grain elevator employer's settlement sheets, I saw something which I had never seen before and which I never expect to see again -- the computer's total memory was 4K and this message popped up on my screen: "END OF MEMORY."

That brings up memories of my Timex/Sinclair which I got shortly after my TRS80.

[DaveO]

Don't forget the Commodore 64

My first "real" machine and the first color computer. For what I paid in 1984 dollars for my C-64 with 2 floppy drives I could have a top of the line machine with laser printer today. My next machine was one of the old Compaq "portables". If lugging something the size and shape of a sewing machine around could be considered "portable". It seemed that 20 meg hard drive would hold everything I would ever need to store.

[ChEAr$]

Our poor memories

I had a Radio Shack too (Model TRS80). It was 1980 and I remember that very same thing (Frost's poem and snowflakes accumulating on the screen). A neat little machine, but those were the pioneer days of desktop computers and the hardware just wasn't up to snuff. I wrote a program in BASIC/DOS on it for the income averaging form being used in those days which would have been really handy except it would overheat and go haywire if kept on over half a day. Too, the peripheral storage (an ordinary tape recorder) wasn't much to speak of -- sometimes it stored your program entries correctly and sometimes it didn't.

While writing a lengthy program for my grain elevator employer's settlement sheets, I saw something which I had never seen before and which I never expect to see again -- the computer's total memory was 4K and this message popped up on my screen: "END OF MEMORY."

Ah yes. And youu probably still have the little tape player that came with it. (I don't)

And I remember running out of memory in 1978 ; that was UNTIL I upgraded from 1K to 4K!

[Black Bart]

Snowbird - Where all exactly do you roam? Been to the Grand Canyon? I've been wanting to go the past few summers, but the places out there keep catchin' on fire.

Grumpy - You don't seem grumpy.

ChEAr$ - I don't have the tape player or TRS80 -- I loaned it to a friend and, believe it or not, she lost the darn thing. I paid $200 for it used. About memory; when it jumped from 4 to16K, I told a friend I was going to wait for 32K or 64K to come out and he said "How ridiculous! What could you possibly use all that for?"

Larmil - never heard of the Timex/Sinclair. Are you positive it wasn't an oversized watch?

DaveO - I heard a lot about the Commodore but never saw one. Any good? After the Radio Shack, I got an Apple III for which no significant amount of software was ever written (had to stick a 5 1/4 Apple II emulation disk in it to make it run). That was an expensive rig; software was $600 for each module (A/R, GL, PR, A/P) -- all told (hardware/software), it came to about $5K. As you said, could have top quality stuff for that money now.
]

[Larmil]

Timex/Sinclair

Snowbird - Where all exactly do you roam? Been to the Grand Canyon? I've been wanting to go the past few summers, but the places out there keep catchin' on fire.

Grumpy - You don't seem grumpy.

ChEAr$ - I don't have the tape player or TRS80 -- I loaned it to a friend and, believe it or not, she lost the darn thing. I paid $200 for it used. About memory; when it jumped from 4 to16K, I told a friend I was going to wait for 32K or 64K to come out and he said "How ridiculous! What could you possibly use all that for?"

Larmil - never heard of the Timex/Sinclair. Are you positive it wasn't an oversized watch?

DaveO - I heard a lot about the Commodore but never saw one. Any good? After the Radio Shack, I got an Apple III for which no significant amount of software was ever written (had to stick a 5 1/4 Apple II emulation disk in it to make it run). That was an expensive rig; software was $600 for each module (A/R, GL, PR, A/P) -- all told (hardware/software), it came to about $5K. As you said, could have top quality stuff for that money now.
]

Actually it did compute. I got the add-on to make it an 16K.

[snowbird]

Off line ...

We are traveling to Florida so I have been off-line ... left Illinois just in time! Nope, not been to the Grand Canyon ... have not been retired long enough.

I got the kids a Commodore 64 in the early 80's. I re-wrote the program for my master's thesis on it that I had originally written on the university main frame in the late 60’s. It was a slick machine … knew a couple of companies that used it for machine controllers. Today, I could do the whole thing on my laptop in excel!

[Black Bart]

New Bird

We are traveling to Florida so I have been off-line ... left Illinois just in time! Nope, not been to the Grand Canyon ... have not been retired long enough.

I got the kids a Commodore 64 in the early 80's. I re-wrote the program for my master's thesis on it that I had originally written on the university main frame in the late 60’s. It was a slick machine … knew a couple of companies that used it for machine controllers. Today, I could do the whole thing on my laptop in excel!

You seem like an amiable sort, so maybe you'll be filling the ornithological slot from our departed, helpful comrade, Bird Legs, who passed away a short time ago.

I wrote my soybean program at my master(the owner of the grain elevator)'s behest during the early eighties. An interesting note about programmers; my niece was a young systems analyst (don't be too impressed -- I've also got a sister-in-law who has a master's in meth) in the early 90s and she couldn't understand why her 60s-educated employers wrote code in such sparse and strictly abbreviated fashion. She said it sunk in later -- they were saving space (for them, memory was a limited, precious resource which had to be conserved at every opportunity).

P.S. Re: Excel -- I don't know anything about it, but people are always talking about it. Could you tell me something about it and what it's used for? Thanks.

[ChEAr$]

What it is

You seem like an amiable sort, so maybe you'll be filling the ornithological slot from our departed, helpful comrade, Bird Legs, who passed away a short time ago.

I wrote my soybean program at my master(the owner of the grain elevator)'s behest during the early eighties. An interesting note about programmers; my niece was a young systems analyst (don't be too impressed -- I've also got a sister-in-law who has a master's in meth) in the early 90s and she couldn't understand why her 60s-educated employers wrote code in such sparse and strictly abbreviated fashion. She said it sunk in later -- they were saving space (for them, memory was a limited, precious resource which had to be conserved at every opportunity).

P.S. Re: Excel -- I don't know anything about it, but people are always talking about it. Could you tell me something about it and what it's used for? Thanks.

It's the Microsoft version of what we used to use: Visicalc. remember?

[Black Bart]

Excel...and others

It's the Microsoft version of what we used to use: Visicalc. remember?

What's Visicalc?

[snowbird]

Useless information ...

What's Visicalc?

Microsoft's first ever spreadsheet was “Multiplan” on the Commodore 64. Multiplan was actually the basis for Excel. I had a copy of it ... probably still do somewhere in the basement ... hate to throw anything away!